Restore the Mississippi River Delta

As a Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition (MRD) member, Audubon partners with the National Wildlife Federation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Pontchartrain Conservancy to advance a just, climate-resilient coast where people and nature thrive. This is a priority for Audubon as the Mississippi River Delta ecosystem and coastal Louisiana support 100 million migratory, nesting, and wintering birds. Protecting and restoring this vital habitat is crucial to the health and survival of many of these species. 

Louisiana's coastal landscape is vanishing at an alarming rate. Every 100 minutes, a football field of land disappears into the Gulf of Mexico. This coastal land loss is a crisis of national importance, as it affects people, wildlife, and jobs across the region. Continued loss of coastal wetlands increases our exposure to damage from hurricanes and storm surge and puts vital infrastructure at risk.

Through the MRD coalition, Audubon advocates for restoration solutions that reconnect the Mississippi River to the wetlands. MRD has identified restoration projects from the 2023 Coastal Master Plan that, if prioritized and implemented quickly, will help restore and maintain as much of Louisiana's coast as possible to achieve a resilient future for the people, wildlife, and industries of the region.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to restoration. Instead, it requires a combination of strategies and projects working in tandem to build new and sustain existing wetlands along Louisiana's coast. Some of these projects include reconnecting the Mississippi River to its delta through land-building sediment diversions, strategically using dredged sediment to build and sustain wetlands and barrier islands, and constructing salinity control measures to prevent saltwater intrusion and improve the health of our basins. These coastal restoration projects not only build new land but also help protect cities, communities, and infrastructure, support fisheries, and bolster the economy of Louisiana and the entire nation, which depends on the health of the Mississippi River Delta.

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